Five years ago today, the stock market began a long, slow climb. On March 9, 2009, the Dow closed at 6,547, down nearly 57 percent from its previous peak above 14,000 less than 18 months earlier. It was the financial crisis’ rock bottom. But the next day, the Dow and the S&P 500 were both up 6 percent. Since then the Dow has climbed another 150 percent and the S&P 177 percent in a bull market that has outlasted all but the most enduring of the U.S. stock market’s previous winning streaks.

Evan Dangel, senior vice president of Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, said the pros in his Waltham office found it hard to believe what they were seeing: "People were so shell shocked in March 2009, even with some optimism and feeling that things were going to get better, people's willingness to commit dollars to that, or invest in that was just spent. It took some time for people to gather themselves and commit to investing again. People lost a lot of opportunity because they were just so bruised. I'm not sure we even believed it. As much as I'd like to tell you we could see it coming, we didn't. Since then, there's been a lot of growth, but it's never felt fantastic."

In what unique ways have the last five years affected Greater Boston’s investors and money managers?

The investment business has become a business that people are talking about again. Five years ago, this became an unattractive business. There has been an anti-sentiment toward the investment business in general. In Boston specifically, I don't think this is a market that's been lighting rod, but there still seems to be a real disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street and that's a problem. There has to be a level of trust, and investors have to be invested. My responsibility to clients is to make them believe in the process, but a lot of younger investors have stayed away from the market. A lot of investors in the 25-40 range are lightly invested.

Related links:

Industries:

Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.